Journal Management

Dampak is managed openly and independently. This policy states who owns and runs the journal, how it is funded, how editors are chosen, how the editorial office works, and how complaints are handled, so that authors, reviewers and readers know what to expect.

1. Introduction

Dampak: Jurnal Teknik Lingkungan Universitas Andalas has published research in environmental engineering since 2004. Authors, reviewers and readers need to know who is responsible for the journal and how decisions are made. This policy sets out how Dampak is governed and run.

It follows the COPE core practice on journal management and the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, and it works together with the journal's other policies listed in Section 5.

2. Description

Journal management covers the following areas.

Area	What it covers	Section
Ownership and governance	Who publishes the journal and who is accountable for it	3.1
Editorial independence	Decisions made on scholarly merit, free of outside influence	3.2
Editorial team and reviewers	Who they are, how they are chosen and how they are reviewed	3.3, 4.2
Finances	Fees, waivers and other sources of income	3.4
Access, copyright and licensing	Open access and the licence on articles	3.5
Operations	Peer review, workflow, schedule, training and software	3.6, 3.7, 4.3
Archiving and preservation	Backup and long-term access to articles	3.8
Advertising and marketing	What the journal does and does not do	3.9
Complaints and appeals	How to challenge a decision or complain about the journal	3.10, 4.5
Transparency	Information published on the website, and metrics	3.11, 4.1

3. Policy

3.1 Ownership and governance

Dampak is published by the Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Andalas, Padang, Indonesia. The journal has an online ISSN (2597-5129) and a print ISSN (1829-6084) and appears under its own name, which is not to be confused with any other journal. The professional associations PII and IATPI are listed as sponsors on the About page. The Editor-in-Chief runs the journal day to day, and the Department, as publisher, is responsible for its resources and its compliance with university rules.

3.2 Editorial independence

The Editor-in-Chief and editors make decisions on the scholarly quality, originality, relevance and ethics of a manuscript. The publisher, sponsors, funders, advertisers, the authors' institutions and other outside parties have no say in which manuscripts are accepted or rejected, and the journal does not tolerate attempts to influence a decision. The identity, country, institution, seniority or ability to pay of an author has no bearing on the decision. Editors and publisher staff who are pressed to change a decision report it to the Editor-in-Chief or the head of the Department.

An editor who has a competing interest in a manuscript steps aside, as the Conflict of Interest policy provides. Online comments or media coverage about an article are not findings. The journal looks into a specific concern through its own process under the Post-Publication Discussions policy, and does not retract or change an article because of public pressure alone.

3.3 Editorial team and reviewers

Team. The Editor-in-Chief and the editors are listed with their full names and affiliations on the Editorial Team page. The list is kept current, with each member's agreement, and members come from several institutions.
Appointment. Editors are chosen for their expertise in the journal's scope, their experience in research and publishing, their commitment to publication ethics and their time to do the work, as set out in Section 4.2. Each is given a clear description of the role and a term of office.
Reviewers. The journal keeps a list of reviewers chosen for their expertise. Reviewers are not asked to copyedit. They are asked to declare competing interests and to keep manuscripts confidential, and an editor does not act as a reviewer of a manuscript they handle.
Editors as authors. A manuscript by the Editor-in-Chief, an editor, a board member or a member of staff is handled by someone else, as set out in the Conflict of Interest policy.

3.4 Finances and revenue

No fee for submission or review. Authors can submit a manuscript and have it reviewed without being charged.
Publication charge. A publication charge is payable only after a manuscript has been accepted, as stated on the Fees page. The charge and the arrangements for a waiver or discount are shown clearly there, and the editors decide on a manuscript before they consider any fee.
Waivers. An author who cannot afford the charge may ask for a waiver or discount. Requests are considered on need, and a request is not seen by reviewers and does not affect the decision on a manuscript.
Other sources. The journal is supported by the Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Andalas, in the form of staff time, facilities and tools. It does not sell subscriptions or reprints. No source of revenue influences editorial decisions.

3.5 Open access, copyright and licensing

All content is free to read, download and share as soon as it is published. Articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence, and authors keep their copyright. The licence and the copyright holder are shown on the full text of each article. The journal's Repository Policy states which versions of an article authors may post in repositories and elsewhere.

3.6 Peer review and publishing schedule

Peer review. Every research manuscript is reviewed by at least two reviewers, using blind review: reviewers do not know the authors' identity and authors do not know the reviewers'. The Peer Review Process page describes the process. The editor makes the decision, and may consult the editorial board.
Schedule. Dampak is published twice a year, in January to June and in July to December. The journal keeps to this schedule unless there are exceptional circumstances, and tells readers and authors if the schedule changes.
Dates. Each article shows the dates it was received, accepted and published.

3.7 Training, software and supporting tools

Editors and staff are introduced to COPE's guidance and the journal's policies when they join, and when policies change. The journal runs on Open Journal Systems, and uses similarity-check software, as described in the Plagiarism Policy. It registers DOIs through Crossref.

3.8 Archiving and preservation

The journal backs up its website, database and files regularly and arranges for its content to be preserved in a digital preservation service, so that articles stay available if the journal or its publisher stops operating. The service used is named on the Archiving page. Rules on authors' own copies are in the Repository Policy.

3.9 Advertising and marketing

Dampak does not currently carry paid advertising. If it does in future, advertisements will be clearly marked, kept apart from the articles, and have no influence on editorial decisions.
Invitations to submit, calls for papers and other direct marketing are accurate, relevant to the person who receives them and not misleading about the journal's indexing, metrics, fees or review process. The journal does not promise acceptance or a fixed review time.

3.10 Complaints and appeals

Anyone may complain about how the journal has handled a manuscript, a review, an article or a person. An author who disagrees with a decision on a manuscript may appeal once, and the procedure is set out in Section 4.5. A complaint or appeal is dealt with fairly, in confidence and without penalty to the person who made it.

3.11 Transparency and metrics

The journal publishes the information listed in Section 4.1 on its website. Where it states an indexing, ranking or metric, such as SINTA, Garuda or Crossref membership, it states what it really holds and gives the year, and it does not claim any it does not hold. Figures such as submissions, acceptance rate and time to decision, when published, are accurate.

4. Procedures

4.1 Information on the website

The website shows the following. The editorial office checks it at least once a year.

Information	Where it is published
Journal name, publisher, ISSNs, history	About page
Aims and scope, types of article, readers	Aim and Scope page
Editors and their affiliations	Editorial Team page
Reviewers	Reviewers page
Peer review process	Peer Review Process page
Instructions for authors, authorship criteria	Author Guidelines page
Fees, waivers and how to ask	Fees page
Open access, copyright and licence	Open Access Statement and Rights and Licences pages
Publication ethics and policies	Publication Ethics page and the policy pages listed in Section 5
Archiving and repository rules	Archiving page and Repository Policy
Publication frequency	Publication Frequency page
Contact details and mailing address	Contact page

4.2 Appointing and reviewing editorial staff

The Editor-in-Chief proposes new editors and the Department, as publisher, confirms them. Candidates are asked to declare competing interests and are given a written description of the role, the term and the journal's policies.
Candidates are chosen for their expertise, their publication record, their experience of review and their commitment to ethical practice. The editorial team aims to represent several institutions and to include both senior and early-career members.
At least once a year the Editor-in-Chief reviews how active each member has been. A member who is inactive or in breach of the journal's policies is asked to resign, or is replaced when the term ends.

4.3 Editorial office workflow

Stage	What happens	Target time
Screening	The editorial office checks the template, the similarity report, the ethics statement and the Data Availability Statement. Manuscripts that fail are returned or rejected.	Within 14 days of submission
Review	The editor invites at least two reviewers. Reviewers declare conflicts, keep the manuscript confidential and send a report.	As the editor sets
Decision	The editor decides after reading the reviews, and may consult the board. The authors receive the decision and the reviewers' comments.	First decision within 8 weeks of submission
Revision	Authors revise and answer the reviewers. The editor may send the revision for another round.	Authors have the time stated in the decision
Production	Accepted papers are copyedited, typeset and sent to authors for proofs. DOIs are assigned.	Before the issue closes
Publication	Articles appear in the next issue with their dates and licence.	According to the schedule in Section 3.6

The journal tells authors when a target will not be met. Delays are recorded in the editorial system.

4.4 Protecting independence

An editor or staff member who receives a request or pressure to influence a decision, from a sponsor, an institution, an author or anyone else, does not act on it and reports it to the Editor-in-Chief, who records it. If the Editor-in-Chief is the subject, the report goes to the head of the Department. Concerns raised online or in the media are treated like any other concern and are assessed by the editors on the evidence.

4.5 Complaints and appeals

Step	What happens	Target time
Send	The complaint or appeal is sent to the Editor-in-Chief through the Contact page. It names the manuscript or article, and sets out the grounds and any evidence.	Appeals within 30 days of the decision
Acknowledge	The editorial office confirms receipt.	Within 7 days
Assess	An editor who was not involved in the original decision reviews it. For an appeal, the editor also considers asking a new reviewer.	Within 14 days of receipt
Decide and inform	The complainant is told the outcome and the reasons. The decision on an appeal is final.	Within 14 days of the assessment

An appeal is accepted where there is a clear error in the process, a reviewer or editor had an undeclared competing interest, or the author gives new evidence or a reasoned argument that answers the grounds for rejection. Disagreement alone is not enough. Complaints about the conduct of an editor, reviewer or author that suggest misconduct are handled under the Allegations of Misconduct policy, and complaints about an editor's conflict of interest under the Conflict of Interest policy. Authors may not submit the same manuscript elsewhere while an appeal is open.

4.6 Responsibilities

The publisher provides resources, respects editorial independence, and appoints editors on the Editor-in-Chief's proposal. The Editor-in-Chief has final responsibility for the content of the journal, runs the editorial office, keeps the policies current and deals with complaints and appeals. The editors handle manuscripts fairly and keep to the policies. The editorial office runs the workflow and keeps the records. Reviewers give timely, fair and confidential reports. Authors follow the journal's policies and instructions.

4.7 Records and policy review

The editorial office keeps a confidential record of complaints, appeals, reports of pressure and decisions on them for at least five years. The editorial team meets at least twice a year, and the minutes are kept. The editorial board reviews this and the journal's other policies at least once a year, and updates them as COPE guidance changes. Each policy shows the date it was last updated.